


netflix and chills

by haleofStilesheart



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Fluff, Halloween, Hungry Venom Symbiote (Marvel), I Tried, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Post-Canon, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haleofStilesheart/pseuds/haleofStilesheart
Summary: Eddie never thought he would have to explain 1. what Halloween was to an alien symbiote that lived inside his body and 2. why it wasn't a good idea for said alien symbiote to scare children.





	netflix and chills

**Author's Note:**

> This is officially my first work for Symbrock since I finally got to go see the movie! This is just some Halloween-themed fluff to practice writing for these two. Hopefully, they're not too OOC or feel stunted.

Eddie was working on finishing up an article about corruption in the mayor's office when he felt an unexpected jolt of apprehension shoot through him like an electrical current. It only took him a few seconds to realize that the feeling wasn't his own.

Well, it wasn't entirely his own.

Pausing his typing mid-sentence, he glanced over his shoulder. His eyes followed the line of sinuous black goo that stretched out from the center of his back like a long umbilical cord.

At the other end of the stretched-out whatever-the-hell-it-was, was Venom in the form of just a small head. The symbiote was curiously peering out the window at the streets below, the way he often did while Eddie was busy working.

Head tilted to the side like a confused dog, Venom stared through the slats of the blinds, iridescent white eyes narrowed. Another pulse of alarm coursed through Eddie's veins through their bond.

**"Eddie..."** Venom said, deep gravelly voice reverberating throughout the small apartment like a roll of thunder.  **"Do not open the door."**

A spike of panic all his own had Eddie rising to his feet, eyes immediately flicking over to the front door that was locked and dead bolted shut. It was a new habit of his to double check the locks every night, the memory of his home being invaded by Life Foundation goons still fresh in his mind.

He glanced back over at Venom, waiting for the symbiote to inform of what exactly the threat was. Did the new head of Drake's company have a bone to pick with him? Was there another alien invasion like the one in New York a couple years back? Was SHIELD there to kick his ass for harboring an alien symbiote and letting it eat would-be rapists and guys robbing defenseless old ladies?

**"There are...** **_creatures_ ** **outside,"** Venom explained, turning around to face Eddie. Shortening the distance between them, he retracted his head until he was poised over Eddie's shoulder like a proverbial devil.

What the fuck did that mean? Creatures? Coming from Venom that could mean anything from a bunch of dog breeds the symbiote didn't recognize as dogs to an army of six-armed, leathery skinned aliens marching up and down Market Street.

With bated breath, Eddie quietly made his way to the window. Parting the slats with a finger, he peeked outside and promptly sighed in relief.

"Those are just kids, man," Eddie breathed, dragging a hand down his face as the tension bled out of his body. Outside hordes of little kids in costume dragged their parents around by their sleeves, eagerly leading them towards the next place that would give them candy.

Within half a second, Eddie spotted almost all of the Avengers among the ranks of candy-hungry kids. Little boys ran around wielding hammers or brandishing star-spangled shields, others hiding their faces with Iron Man masks.

Little girls, too, fully embraced the tradition of dressing like their heroes. He saw a group of Scarlet Witches in long red dusters and a few Wasps with gilded wings, even a Black Widow or two wearing red wigs.

The rest of the children outside were dressed in various other costumes. There was a little boy with long dark hair dressed like a pirate and holding hands with a girl in a firefighter costume.

Looking up and down the street, Eddie spotted several more traditional costumes: a mummy covered in white gauzy bandages, a princess with a golden tiara and scepter, a vampire with a too-long cape that dragged on the ground.

Eddie was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't just children dressed up for the holiday. There were several parents also in costume to match their children.

There was a man dressed as Han Solo as he escorted a young Princess Leia who walked with all the poise of a blossoming general. A blonde woman in a white dress with fluffy wings held the hand of a little girl dressed as a devil, pitchfork and all.

**"You are smiling,"** Venom pointed out, sounding genuinely confused. Grumbling in Eddie's ear, he demanded,  **"Why?"**

"Like I said, they're kids not 'creature's," Eddie explained, gesturing out the window at a pair of twins dressed like Lilo and Stitch, followed by a man in a jack-o'-lantern t-shirt. "They're trick-or-treaters."

**"Trick-or-treaters?"** Venom said slowly, rolling the words around in his mouth. With Venom's confusion palpable, Eddie took pity on him and immediately clarified.

"Tonight's Halloween," Eddie started, moving away from the window to sit back down at his laptop. "It's a holiday to honor the dead. At least, that's how it started originally. Nowadays, little kids dress up and go door to door for candy."

Venom just stared at him with those big white eyes, unblinking. Eddie shifted awkwardly in his seat, acknowledging, "Yeah, I know, it's pretty weird but—" he shrugged lamely "—y'know."

When Venom didn't say anything, Eddie sighed and thought back to his own Halloween nights as a kid desperate for candy, trying to convey the memories directly to Venom without actually saying anything. He still wasn't totally sure how exactly the whole connected minds thing worked.

Closing his eyes, he thought about nights spent with his childhood friends, running around the neighborhood dressed like werewolves and Ghostbusters and old-school gangsters in pinstripe suits. Of mountains of Reese's cups and Snickers and Twix and his favorite: Butterfinger.

About nights spent egging houses and toilet papering trees when he and his friends had gotten bored with amassing said mountains of candy.

Venom let out a deep hum, nodding to himself as Eddie reopened his eyes.  **"I see."**

Eddie just nodded, turning his attention back to finishing his article. He only had another paragraph or so to go.

A moment later, he was distracted by a knock on the door. Venom retreated, melting back into Eddie until he was completely hidden from sight as he helpfully reported,  **_Trick-or-treaters._ **

Eddie wasn't used to having trick-or-treaters show up at his door. At his old apartment — the shitty one he had moved into the after his breakup with Anne that the Life Foundation had completely trashed — no one would be irresponsible enough to let their kids trick-or-treaters in the building.

Since moving into his new apartment, a nicer building a neighborhood over from his previous one, he hadn't even considered that he might have trick-or-treaters. He was too busy adjusting to life with an alien symbiote that liked eating people.

But he wasn't about to be a Halloween Scrooge. Nope.

Standing again, he grabbed the bowl of chocolate bars he kept on the coffee table in case Venom had a sudden craving. He jogged over to the door, unlocking it after a quick glance through the peephole.

He opened the door to reveal a small group of trick-or-treaters and their mother, a woman he vaguely recognized as living a floor above him. She had her three kids with her, all of them dressed for the holiday.

There was a little girl with Fulani braids and a bright smile dressed like a mermaid with a neon purple tail decorated with realistic scales and fake pearls. She was missing one of her front teeth and had a Barbie band-aid on her left arm.

Her sister was wearing an intricate Cleopatra costume with a gold crown decorated with an asp and long sheer sleeves. She had gold eyeliner on and gold highlighter brushed onto her cheeks.

Their brother was dressed like Robin Hood in a brown vest and olive hood. A quiver of plastic arrows was slung over his right shoulder.

As soon as Eddie opened the door, they greeted him with a chorus of, "Trick or treat!"

"Oh, wow!" Eddie gasped theatrically, smiling widely at the kids. He kneeled down to their height, gushing, "You all look amazing!"

All three of the kids' smiles somehow grew even wider at the compliment. Eddie tipped the bowl of chocolate bars towards them, urging, "Go ahead, take as much as you want."

As the kids eagerly reached into the bowl, gasping excitedly, Venom hissed in the back of Eddie's head.  **_That's_ ** **my** **_chocolate, Eddie._ **

Eddie refrained from rolling his eyes, not wanting their kids or their mother to get the wrong idea. Instead, he just tried to mollify his petulant symbiote, graciously offering, *We'll go out later and find some bad guys to eat, okay? Creeps always come out on Halloween.*

Sufficiently placated, Venom went quiet again. The kids thanked Eddie profusely before turning and following their mother down the hall, still oohing and aahing over the fact that Eddie had given them king-sized bars.

Closing the door and returning to his seat on the couch, Eddie continued writing his article, Venom helpfully reminding him where he had left off. Over the course of the next hour or so, Eddie intermittently got up to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters while Venom thought about all the juicy criminals he would be able to eat later on.

After finishing the article and sending it to his editor, Eddie switched on the TV to watch a Halloween movie to kill some time. It was still much too early for them to go on the prowl for bad guys to snack on.

It was a good movie, one he had seen a thousand times over the years. And Venom seemed to enjoy it as well, asking plenty of questions and clearly preferring certain characters over the others.

During a commercial break, Venom materialized beside Eddie, growing out of his shoulder like the hunchback from hell. He turned to face Eddie with a wicked grin, sharp teeth on full display.  **"Eddie... Let me scare a few trick-or-treaters. It will be fun!"**

"No!" Eddie immediately snapped, leaving no room whatsoever for argument. Frowning at Venom, he explained, "You'd traumatize them for life! Probably for life!"

**"It will build character,"** Venom tried to reason, drawing a bit closer to Eddie's face. Needy as ever, Venom drawled,  **"Please, Eddie..."**

"The answer is *no,"* Eddie repeated firmly, visions of Venom popping out at young, easily scarred little kids who just wanted candy flashing in his mind’s eye. But Venom didn't budge, staring directly into Eddie's eyes in that eerie, decidedly alien way that always made him uncomfortable. Eddie sighed.

"Alright, look. What about a compromise?" Eddie proposed. Venom tipped his head to the side, running his long tongue over his multiple rows of teeth, clearly intrigued. "You can jump out and scare all the creeps you want tonight, got it?"

Venom let out another thunderous hum, like an overgrown cat made of inky black goo. Satisfied for now, Venom curled up low in Eddie's gut, warm and content.

Smiling to himself, Eddie turned back to the TV, settling in for some relaxation before braving the streets of San Francisco for a little midnight snack. Halloween had always been his favorite holiday.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated!  
> Feel free to prompt me on Tumblr (or just thirst over Symbrock with me, whatever) [here!](www.hale-of-stiles-heart.tumblr.com)


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